PHOTO: FILE
The top poll supervisory body has become dysfunctional as the chief election commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan retired last week, while the appointment of two members by the president has been suspended by the court.
The leader of the house in the National Assembly, Imran Khan, and the leader of the opposition, Shehbaz Sharif, have already sent their respective nominations for the vacant slots of CEC and ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan to the Parliamentary Committee headed by Shireen Mazari.
In Wednesday’s meeting, the opposition members offered to surrender CEC’s post if the treasury agreed to appoint their nominees against the two vacant posts of ECP members, according to sources.
The meeting was postponed for a third time after the treasury members deferred their response to the opposition’s offer till 4pm on Thursday (today) when the Parliamentary Committee would reconvene.
PM Imran has proposed the names of retired bureaucrats Fazal Abbas, Babar Yaqoob and Arif Khan for the slot of CEC, while Shehbaz has recommended the names of Nasir Mahmood Khosa, Jalil Abbas Jilani and Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar for the same post.
PML-N member Mushahidullah Khan wondered how Babar Yaqoob could be considered for the CEC post as he couldn’t explain why the Result Transmission System (RTS) had malfunctioned during the last general elections.
While speaking to the media after the meeting, he claimed that the treasury side was not empowered to take decisions on its own.
“We have mandate of our respective parties, while the treasury members have to seek node of the prime minister for everything,” Mushahidullah said. “The prime minister, on the other hand, doesn’t appear to be serious in resolving the issue.”
Mushahidullah claimed that the two sides had agreed in the last meeting of the committee that the appointments of CEC and two ECP members would be finalised simultaneously.
“But now, the treasury members want a decision on CEC’s appointment first,” he added. “We have made it clear that all three appointments would have to be finalsed at the same time.”
Mushahidullah said the opposition would never acquiesce to the name of Babar Yaqoob, whom he blamed for rigging in the last general elections. “The treasury should have not proposed his name as he is already serving as ECP secretary,” he said.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, however, voiced hope that the matter of ECP appointments would soon be resolved within parliament.
The Islamabad High Court, which had suspended the notification of appointment by President Arif Alvi of Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui as ECP member from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar as ECP member from Balochistan.
Last Thursday, the court gave the treasury and the opposition 10 days to resolve the matter. After the Parliamentary Committee meeting, PM Imran convened a high-level meeting to confer with his top aides on ECP appointments.
Attendees at the huddle included National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Leader of the House in Senate Shabbli Faraz, Defense Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Swati and State Minister Ali Muhammad Khan.
According to sources, the participants discussed ECP appointments and possible legislation for the army chief’s extension. They unanimously decided to wait for the detailed judgment of the Supreme Court on the matter of army chief’s extension before making a decision on legislation.
Sources say the government could file a review petition in light of the detailed verdict. Nonetheless, the participants agreed to reduce tensions in parliament in order to make the atmosphere condusive for possible legislation.
The last two sittings of the National Assembly were marred by kerfuffle where MPs from both sides of the aisle engaged in vitriolic exchanges with PML-N parliamentary leader Khawaja Asif announcing boycott of future legislation in the house.
The prime minister directed that decision on ECP appointments should be made in consultation with the opposition.
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